Hey guys, I've been lurking around here for a while. Anyways, I'm from Atlanta and have been watching the Wings for about 10 years now. I went to the game tonight, so I thought I would post some info (not sure how much of this has already been stated tho, so sorry if it has). Lilja did not return after his fight. It basically consisted of a few missed punches, the last of which caused Lilja to lose his footing and fall down on his chest. His arms were still tangled up, so he gashed something on his head. He left the ice with blood running down his face, I think Larson gave him a towel for hit as he walked out the tunnel.
McCarty pretty much dominated his fight, I forgot who it was against (but the box score should make that obvious). He got in some strong punches without getting hit at the start before they both went down. Of course, since McCarty ended up under the Thrasher, all the Atlanta fans were going nuts thinking they had won the fight.
Overall, we looked pretty good tonight. Wasn't a dominant performance though, there are certainly still some kinks to work out. Not sure if it was because some of these lines haven't played together for that long or what, but sometimes it seemed like there was some miscommunication about who was going where, so some of the passes created some awkward situations. Also, towards the end of the second and for much of the third, the thrashers started to play more physical, getting what few fans were present into the game. They started to put some more pressure on our passing game, so it started to go back and forth a lot. Zetterberg's goal was a mistake by Thrashers goalie Lehtonen. He tried to handle a puck in the corner and pass it to a defender on the other side of the crease. Zetterberg charged down the side, redirecting the puck into the net. I think he expected to have to touch the puck again after he first touched it, but it was right on target.
Hope at least some of this was new information for you guys, I just got in and haven't read how people watched/listened to the game.
PS I bought a $10 ticket at the door, went down low for practice, and didn't leave row 6 until the game was over. It was definitely nice to see all of the players in person for once, they haven't been to Atlanta in quite a while now. I also touched DMac's glove, I was pretty pumped
EDIT: forgot to add that the Thrashers goal was a ghetto version of a Datsyuk dangler. The footwork wasn't as smooth, but Ozzie still bit. Also, Ozzie had one get past his body, but he had his stick up, and the handle (the little stub at then end) was down at ice level and deflected the puck away from the goalline until a defenseman got a stick on it and cleared it.
